An expected question during this COVID-19 crisis is, “How could God love us if we’re going through this?” How can he allow His people to be so stressed and so fearful about finances, job security …our lives?”
Prolific disease at the worldwide level is not new. Disease has existed since the beginning of time…since Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden. Small Pox goes back to the time of the pharaohs, and possible before. By the mid-1960’s there were over 10 million trackable deaths worldwide. The Bubonic plague wiped out nearly a third of Europe between 1348 and 1350. The Spanish Flu of 1918 killed approximately 50 million people worldwide after World War I. This flu strain is the same strain that caused the swine flu (H1N1) pandemic in 2009. HIV continues to be a serious health issue. According to the CDC, there were approximately 1.7 million new cases in 2018 worldwide. At that time, about 37.9 million people were living with HIV around the world. An estimated 35 million people have died from AIDS-related illnesses since the start of the epidemic.
But, experiencing this type crisis is new to many. What’s new is the varied worldwide responses, the broadcast of spread dynamics and mortality stats, the political “one-upmanship”, and the “chicken little” speculations. What is new is the sudden restriction of our ability to move about freely…to congregate freely…to spontaneously show affection with the embrace of a friend, family member or stranger. It’s a paradigm shift that no one wants to make. The saturation of information via traditional and social media outlets has caused some with a tangential awareness of God, as well as those with an unchallenged faith to wonder….is God loving me right now?
Scripture tells us that God is love (1 John 4:8). He keeps his covenant of love with His servants ( 1 Kings 8:23). His love is unfailing (Psalm 36:7). He is gracious and compassionate…slow to anger…abounding in love (Joel 2:13). But, why is the world going through this? Why are believers going through this?
Maybe this pandemic is part of series of events meant to convince some that this batch of government leadership has to go. Maybe it is a harsh lesson being taught to leadership who chose national security over virus research. Maybe we’re reaping the consequences of that choice, which executed a moratorium on the sharing of research data amongst global scientists for fear that research data would be used for sinister purposes. Maybe it’s God’s way of getting us back to Him…. getting us to rely on Him…to truly rely on Him. Maybe it’s His way of reminding us that His intent is for us to live a life of love and integrity. Maybe He wants us to do a self-assessment of our faith…an assessment of our heart for Him. If His place in our heart has been conveniently positioned, where we have checked the “spirituality” box, yet live life wholly in the world…conforming to the world…maybe we need to go deeper. Maybe it’s all of these things. Maybe it’s some of these things. Maybe it’s none of these things.
There is no conflict with love being God’s essence, and Him being a God of justice and a jealous God (Exodus 20:5). At a minimum, we’re going through this because we’ve lived in a fallen world since Adam and Eve were booted out of the garden…where we blew the chance of living a calamity-free…disease-free life. But, God promises to give us a peace that surpasses understanding (Phil 4:7) in the midst of trouble. And that starts with knowing that He loves us…that He loves you!
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